Where to start?

Are you a
Windows user and want to gradually wean yourself off of a dependence
on Microsoft? Download, make a copy from a friend (yes, it's
legal), or order TheOpenCD
which is a fantastic CD packed with a ton of great open
source software that will give you a taste on Windows of what's
available on open source operating systems like Linux.
You will be getting a fully featured, free office suite, a powerful
photo editor, a cutting edge web browser, and so much more.
Start using
these very high quality, non-Microsoft applications today on
Windows and you can gradually decrease your dependence on Microsoft
at your own pace. Every Microsoft alternative you use helps to
keep choice and innovation in the software industry alive and it
moves you one step closer to being free from
everything that is wrong with Microsoft.

What Alternatives Are There to Microsoft?

If you're sick of the unreliability, the bloat, the insecurity, and
the perpetual upgrading associated with Microsoft products you'll be
happy to know that there are some excellent alternatives out there.
The list below is meant as an introduction to Microsoft alternatives
and as such it is by no means comprehensive.

The KMFMS recommended
products are products that we here at KMFMS
have personally used with great satisfaction. The recommended list does
not necessarily
reflect the value of other alternatives, it is simply a list of products
that we can personally vouch for. Just because a product isn't recommended
by KMFMS doesn't mean it isn't a great product - it may just mean that we
haven't had a chance to extensively use it yet. You may also be
interested in what other users have to recommend in the
"alternatives" section of
our discussion forums.

Legal disclaimer: all product names below are trademarks of their
respective owners.

Did you realize that older computers which can't satisfactorily run
the latest version of Windows can be given a second lease on life by
installing an operating system that better manages resources? Are you
a home or business
user who is tired of the instability of Windows or who could use the
performance increase that a well written OS would offer? You may be interested
to know that there is an OS out there called
Linux which offers much better performance
than Windows and without the overhead. Linux will breathe new life into
hardware that you thought was obsolete and it will unleash the real power
in newer hardware. Even Microsoft
can't help but give Linux a glowing review as you can read in their
internal memo that was
leaked in October 1998. Oh yeah - Linux is free too.

Another excellent option to consider if you are buying a new desktop or laptop is
Mac OS X. OS X
combines the legendary ease of use and stylishness of Apple's
Macintosh operating system with the rock solid stability and power of
BSD. It easily outflanks Windows in ease of use, style, stability,
security, and power. Mac OS X comes included with new Macs.

Are you an administrator who uses Windows as a server? If so, you should be aware
that the alternatives are more reliable, much more secure, and
much less expensive.
Linux makes an excellent server with
its stability and excellent performance. It's also easy to install and
easy to administer if you get a distribution such as
Red Hat's.
If security is a concern (as it should be) you may also be interested in
the OpenBSD operating system
which is perhaps the most secure operating system in the world.
It makes a great server and it completely blows away Windows (as well as most
other operating systems) when it comes to security.

Linux and BSD (including Mac OS X) are our favorites here at KMFMS because they have proven to be excellent
solutions for various projects. There are, however, several other non-Microsoft solutions
that we haven't tried so those of you wishing to get a broad overview of what's out there
check out the review of
operating systems at tunes.org,
the KMFMS forum on alternatives, or
Yahoo's list
of operating systems (by the way - Yahoo, one of most heavily used sites on the internet,
also runs on BSD).

Editor's note: the following information on the Mac OS was accurate
when it was first published in August 1999.
Some information,
such as current version numbers, has since changed.

A KMFMS Reader writes:
For those of who want a professional-level OS, but don't want to
spend all your time learning it, MacOS
X Server is good. (It's ideal for a small network.) OS X
Server is only at version 1.0, but is quite comparable to Linux.
With your help, it can grow into something that'll make Microsoft
shake in their boots. It sits upon the Mach microkernel and BSD.

The best choice in web browsers for nearly all people is
Firefox
(although, Safari is also a
good choice for Mac users). If you are on Windows you should use it
because it has nowhere near the number of security exploits as
Internet Explorer, it is packed with a lot of powerful features while
retaining a very clean feel, it is quite stable, it won't bring down
your operating system if it does happen to crash because it hasn't
been forcefully shoved into the OS like Internet Explorer, and
it properly supports Java (unlike IE). If you're not using Windows (good
for you) then you're probably already using something else because
Microsoft can't strong-arm you into using IE. Although Microsoft does
have a version of IE for the Mac, they have no loyalty and you would
do well to not rely on it being there going forward since they have
already pulled the rug out from under users on other operating systems.
Microsoft initially released a version of IE for Solaris so that they
could claim that IE was "cross platform", but it didn't take them very
long after IE gained a majority market share to drop the Solaris
version entirely.

There are a ton of other browsers out there, some of which may be better than Firefox
for certain situations. Several people consider
Opera the ultimate lightweight browser
and its speed and small size are very impressive if you're into that sort of thing.
Also, Lynx and
ELinks are both text only browsers
which can be extremely useful for remote administration, but chances
are if you have a use for them you probably already knew what they
were. Finally, there's a whole slew of
browsers at Yahoo
that fit into other niche markets.

Why would anybody spend several hundred dollars on Microsoft Office
when there are high quality, free equivalents available? Save
yourself some money by trying the free, high-quality, open source
OpenOffice.org today.
Not only will you save yourself a bundle now, but you'll save yourself
even more on upgrades in the future as you will no longer be locked
into Microsoft's viscous cycle of forcing MS Office upgrades by changing
the "doc" and "xls" file formats (OpenOffice.org does a good job of keeping up with
the newer MS Office file formats).

OpenOffice.org provides
alternatives to many of the applications which make up the Microsoft
Office suite including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft
PowerPoint, Microsoft Access, and more.

If you work in a (physical) office
that uses office suite software
and you are worried about potential compatibility issues, try this: limit
your MS Office installation to a single machine and install OpenOffice.org
everywhere else. For internal documents and documents which you print
(or otherwise distribute in hardcopy form) you can standardize on the
OpenOffice.org format (which is an open standard and not proprietary). For the few documents that you want to
electronically distribute outside your company, you can use OpenOffice.org
to write the document in MS Office format and then use your single
installation of MS Office to touch up anything that may not have
converted perfectly. For incoming documents in MS Office format,
OpenOffice.org will read most without a problem. If there ever are any
problems, simply use your single installation of MS Office. This
simple strategy could save even a small office several thousand
dollars.

There's a very good
reason why Outlook has come to be nicknamed LookOut by seasoned users.
Microsoft Outlook has a notorious security history with many a virus
owing its ability to spread to Outlook's "features".
Help slow the spread of email viruses and support software diversity by
using another email program, such as the free and excellent
Thunderbird.

Perhaps you use Outlook for more than just email and an address book. If you use Outlook for scheduling as well, you may also want to consider using Yahoo! Calendar in conjunction with Thunderbird or a web based email solution. This can provide quite a bit more convenience and versatility than using Outlook by itself.

Do you want to further explore combining alternatives to replace how you use Outlook? If so:

When selecting a web based email service, you absolutely do not want to
use Hotmail. Forget for a moment the large number of security holes
that have been uncovered in the Hotmail service (including one that
allowed anybody to read the email from any Hotmail account
without using a password). An even bigger problem is that by using Hotmail
you are very likely to become victim of Microsoft's typical lock-in
tactics at some point in the not-too-distant future. MSN has locked
out non Microsoft browsers before, forcing people to use Internet
Explorer, so what happens if Hotmail starts doing this too? Don't think
for a second that it doesn't matter because you use IE anyway - what
happens when you're traveling and you stop to check your email via
the web? What if you're visiting a friend who uses Firefox or you're
at a web kiosk that uses Linux underneath for security purposes? You
won't be able to use IE, which means you won't be able to use services
that require IE.

Yahoo! Mail is an excellent
alternative to Hotmail. It features exceptional functionality which
many people consider superior to Hotmail (having never used Hotmail
ourselves, we are relying on third party comparisons). Most
importantly, it is not produced by a company that has a vested
interest in forcing users to use a particular browser. In fact,
Yahoo! has an excellent track record of making their content available
to the widest possible audience. Yahoo! Mail is a good way to protect
yourself against the software lock-in and incompatibility that you
risk by using Hotmail.

If you're running a web server it's tough to beat
Apache.
Over half the web servers on the internet are running Apache
(Source: Netcraft)
, it has
the largest number of developers developing for it
(Source: Netcraft)
, and it offers far more performance
than most websites could ever dream of needing. It's also open source and free
in all senses of the word which means it is more secure (because it is subject to
peer review and doesn't rely on security through obscurity), it rapidly incorporates
new standards, it is feature rich while at the same time capable of being entirely
stripped down for maximum performance,
it is well modularized for easy expandability, and it is guaranteed to
have long term viability because it is not being used to drive a perpetual upgrade
cycle. Add the PHP module onto Apache
which makes dynamic content a lot easier to generate than with the CGI of days
gone by, and you have a first class web server for no money down and no payments ever.
For an even more elegant and highly scalable dynamic content system, check out
the Tomcat servlet container
for serving JSP and servlet content from Apache or other servers.

If you are fortunate to hit the performance limitations of the Apache
web server, lighttpd is a
compelling upgrade option. It combines the incredible scalability of
next generation web servers with a high degree of customizability and
the ability to serve dynamic content in many of the same ways as
Apache. Like Apache, it too is free and open source, so you
automatically get the benefits of peer review and long term viability.

The PlayStation platform has a much larger library of games available
than the Xbox. Furthermore, current incarnation of the PlayStation
are still capable of playing games made for older PlayStations, which
expands the available library even more given that the PSOne was one
of the most successful systems in history.

You should definitely avoid using MSN because it will force you into
using Microsoft's software. As of this writing (November, 2001) you
must use Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Hotmail to retrieve your MSN
mail and the MSN website portal recently made headlines by blocking
most users who weren't using Internet Explorer (earning Microsoft a
much deserved rebuke from Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World
Wide Web). You would be much better off with a non-Microsoft ISP and
there is practically no reason to go with Microsoft in this case as
ISPs are all very standardized and Microsoft doesn't wield monopoly
power in that industry (yet).

Your physical location will have a great impact on your choices of
ISPs. "The List" is a very
comprehensive list of ISPs which should help you find an ISP
regardless of your location. If you are in the United States, you
might want to consider
Earthlink for dial-up access or
Speakeasy
for broadband
access. Earthlink has a very large number of dial-up numbers
throughout the US, which is good if you travel at all and have a
laptop, and it is very easy to set up Linux to use an Earthlink
account. Speakeasy is an exceptionally good DSL company (absolutely
worlds apart from the Baby Bells, if you've had any experiences with
them) with a surprisingly clueful technical support staff which
actually supports Speakeasy on Linux.

The KMFMS evaluation of email servers is not complete enough to make a
recommendation because expectations vary widely on what an email
server is meant to do. Here at KMFMS we actually have considerable
experience with email servers within the context of sending and
receiving email. The problem is that enterprises might also want the
email server to handle ancillary tasks, such as calendaring, and we
only have experience using email servers for email.
If you want a best of breed email server that outshines Exchange
on what email servers are supposed to do (transfer email) look no
further than the staples of the internet,
Sendmail and
Qmail.
For email servers that handle more than email,
we will reserve recommendations for a later date. For now, we will
pass along the following pitch from a
representative at Steltor who has informed us that
Steltor's Outlook Connector
is a "piece of client-side middleware (MAPI
service providers) that allows you to replace Exchange with a
standards-based offering consisting of a mail server offered by
Steltor partners such as Sendmail, directory servers (offered by
Steltor partners) and a best-of-breed calendar server offered by
Steltor."

A KMFMS reader wrote in to highly recommend
Exim writing that he strongly
prefers it over Sendmail and that it has easy to use spam
filtering.

Another KMFMS reader also wrote in to tell us about
EMWAC IMS. He said that if
you are stuck using Windows, EMWAC IMS is an excellent, free choice
for a mail server.
He used it at his own ISP which handled over 100,000 email messages a
day on a Pentium 100 and he claims that it is very well supported
in the community.